World Mining Congress 2026 — Lima, Peru | June 24–26, 2026 Technical Program Introduction | Page 2 It is perhaps fitting — and not entirely coincidental — that WMC 2026 opens in the same week as Inti Raymi, the ancient Andean festival of the sun that has marked the winter solstice and the promise of renewal for centuries. The themes of this Congress — Mining for the Future, Trust, Transformation, and Technology — carry something of that same spirit: a deliberate turning toward what is possible, a collective commitment to begin something new. The challenges ahead are real and the timeline is unforgiving. But so too is the industry’s capacity, when it chooses to exercise it, to move with speed and resolve. It is in this context that the World Mining Congress convenes in Lima, Peru, for its 27th edition in June 2026. Peru is the world's second-largest producer of copper and zinc, and a leading producer of silver, gold, lead, and molybdenum. Latin America as a whole holds more than half of the world's known lithium reserves and a dominant share of its copper resources. To host this Congress in the Andean heartland of global mineral supply is to situate the conversation precisely where it must occur: at the nexus of resource endowment, industrial ambition, indigenous rights, environmental stewardship, and geopolitical significance. The theme of WMC 2026 — mining's evolving role in a resource-constrained, decarbonizing world — runs as a thread through every session and every track of this program. The questions the industry faces are not merely technical. They are questions of governance, social legitimacy, environmental responsibility, and the fair distribution of the wealth that minerals generate. The presentations gathered here, drawn from more than 70 countries and spanning the full spectrum from deep-sea polymetallic nodule collection to geothermal decarbonization in the Andes, reflect an industry that is simultaneously under the most intense scrutiny it has ever faced and rising to that scrutiny with genuine innovation. The Technical Program for WMC 2026 comprises 266 oral presentations organized across nine thematic tracks and more than 40 sessions, structured over three days of intensive exchange. The program has been designed to ensure that no discipline operates in isolation: a geotechnical engineer will find their work connected to questions of environmental closure; a process metallurgist will encounter the AI systems that are transforming their field; a policy specialist will confront the ground-level social realities that determine whether any policy succeeds. This integration is intentional. The challenges ahead demand it. Synopsis of Technical Tracks and Sessions The following provides an overview of the nine thematic tracks that constitute the 2026 Technical Program, together with a summary of the principal sessions and the scope of presentations within each track. Track 1: AI and Data-Driven Decision Making (49 presentations) The largest track in the program reflects a fundamental transformation underway across the industry. Artificial intelligence, machine learning, digital twins, and data-driven analytics are no longer emerging technologies in mining — they are operational realities, and their scope is expanding rapidly. This track, organized across ten sessions, examines AI applications ranging from mineral exploration and resource estimation to real-time operational optimization, safety management, and processing plant control. AI in Mineral Exploration and Geoscience: Sessions examine the use of convolutional neural networks and variational autoencoders for predicting deposit occurrence, hyperspectral data integration for lithological classification, and machine learning workflows for predictive exploration targeting. The promise of AI to compress exploration timelines and reduce discovery costs is examined critically, with presentations separating demonstrable achievement from speculative claims. Automation, Data and AI in Operations: Presentations address fleet management systems, autonomous mechatronic systems for mine servicing, and reinforcement learning applications for resource extraction
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